New Delhi, Feb 8 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday promised to make every effort to clean the Yamuna river, resolve civic issues related to cleanliness and pollution, and deliver on all his guarantees to make Delhi a future-ready city.
Addressing party workers after the BJP’s victory in the Delhi Assembly polls, Modi also slammed the outgoing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for insulting people’s faith by making no efforts to clean the Yamuna, failing to build good roads in the capital and keeping the city clean.
“I had pledged during the election campaign that we will make Yamunaji the identity of Delhi city. I know this work is difficult and will take a long time. No matter how much time is spent, how much energy is used, we will make every effort to serve the Yamuna,” the prime minister said at the victory celebrations at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters here.
The BJP won 48 of the 70 seats in the Delhi election, returning to power in the national capital after a gap of more than 26 years, dealing a decisive defeat to the AAP, which was ruling the city since 2013.
The pollution of the Yamuna had become an election issue, with AAP convenor and former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal accusing Haryana of “poisoning” the river, which he had promised to clean during campaigns for previous elections.
Modi also slammed the AAP for broken roads, overflowing sewers, heaps of garbage and air pollution in Delhi, and asserted that a “double-engine” BJP government would make sincere efforts to address these issues.
“Previous governments treated urbanisation as a burden, considering it a challenge. They made cities a source of earning personal wealth. However, I believe that urbanisation is an opportunity. It is a medium to empower the poor and marginalised,” he said.
The prime minister said Delhi is the gateway to the country and should have the best urban infrastructure.
He said it is a coincidence that since Independence, this is the first time that Delhi and its surrounding states — Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan — will have BJP governments, which would open innumerable avenues of progress in the National Capital Region (NCR).
“Our effort will be to do a lot of work on mobility and infrastructure in this entire area in the coming times,” the prime minister said.
He noted that those living in slums and the middle class have supported the BJP and professionals from various sectors have been working with the party in large numbers.
“In Delhi, we ensured significant progress on the metro network. In other cities, we focused on developing airports, metro systems and urban infrastructure. Our schemes have greatly benefitted the middle class. Initiatives like Startup India are helping fulfil the dreams of people from smaller cities,” Modi said. PTI SKU RC
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